I may not have recalled correctly - it was a very long time ago.
I don’t think that the clipping protection is a “bad” thing in itself, but not really “necessary” and as you say, given the slowness and the crash risk I don’t think it is worth it.
Thanks for bringing that up again. I do much prefer the “amplification modifier” option to normalizing.
It’s a shame that there is no good way to offer “simple / advanced” alternative interfaces. I’ve just noticed that the old “shelf filter” has had over 1600 downloads: Reducing Bass